Various apparatuses are known for providing a curative effect by irradiating spots on a patient's body with low-power insertable laser devices. Such apparatus are generally configured with one or more laser diodes configured for emitting outputs in the range of 5 mW to 10 mW and wavelengths in the range of 635 nm to 650 nm, and a low power laser diode driver for arbitrarily adjusting the amount of laser beam emitted from the on or more laser diodes.
For example, Korean Utility Model No. 302173 discloses an electric mat for uniformly emitting a laser beam through a low power laser diode. Korean Utility Model No. 270882 discloses a waist belt including a laser generator having a laser diode for emitting laser light having a wavelength of 580˜980 nm to stimulate the lumbar, thereby performing finger-pressure treatment and therefore medical treatment of a disc. Korean Utility Model No. 274266 discloses a laser for medical treatment and an LED blanket capable of widening a curative range, for example, irradiation of spots on the body suitable for acupuncture, chronic article rheumatism, frozen shoulder, lumbago, cervical vertebral sprain, gout, wrench, bruising, arthritis, stress gastritis, and so on. Korean Patent No. 457964, issued to the present applicant, discloses a laser beam radiator capable of non-invasively irradiating blood in a blood vessel with a laser beam according to a position and a thickness of the blood vessel by adjusting a distance of the laser beam condensed through an optical lens, activating metabolism of a cell by stimulating a blood cell using a laser beam, increasing formation of capillary vessels to improve blood circulation, and increasing speed of tissue treatment to activate living organisms.
While another laser apparatus using a laser beam disposed in an array for providing use convenience is proposed to be adapted to various soft materials such as a chair, a hat, a bed, a belt, and so on, when the laser beam is disposed in the soft materials in an array, a red laser capable of being output appropriately to non-invasively break down fat (about, more than 30 mW) should be used. However, since the red laser requires a separate radiation structure, there is no way of breaking down fat by non-invasively irradiating a human body.
Meanwhile, in order to effectively treat obesity using a laser, Neira et al. (2002, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 110(3): 912-922) disclose a process for liquefying fat by waving a low-power laser back and forth six inches above a subject's abdomen and then removing the liquefied fat with a surgical liposuction i.e., lipectomy procedure. Neira et al.'s paper is based on a test in which lasers having a wavelength of 635 nm, an output of 10 mW, and a total energy of 1.2J/cm2, 2.4J/cm2 and 3.6J/cm2 are radiated onto adipose tissue extracted from 12 healthy women. As a result of the test, 4 minutes after laser exposure, 80% of the fat in the adipose cells is discharged, and 6 minutes after the laser exposure, 99% is discharged. It was reported that energy of the low power laser acts to open a cell wall to discharge fat from the interior to the exterior of the adipose cell. Then, the discharged fat is gathered in a space between the adipose tissues. Using the fat liquefaction effect of the red laser on the basis of the test, suction lipectomy using a laser, in which the human body is irradiated from outside to break down fat and discharge the broken down fat from the body using a cannular (fine pipe), has been proposed.
Various methods of non-invasively irradiating skin covering a fatty area of a treatment target with a red laser beam to break down the fat of the adipose cells have been attempted. In order to irradiate a wider area for a short time, a device for forming a red laser beam with a line shape to scan the treatment target has been developed and put on the market. However, it is difficult to input a power of 10 mW and an energy density of 3.6J/cm2 required for lipolysis in the human body, thereby obtaining little practical effect.